SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2018--TP Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing oncology therapies with a focus on addressing current drug resistance, announced the appointment of Athena M. Countouriotis, M.D., as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer.

“The Board and I are extremely delighted to have Athena join us as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer,” said Dr. J. Jean Cui, founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of TP Therapeutics, Inc. “Athena brings extensive and in-depth oncology clinical development experience to TP Therapeutics.”

“Athena has a history of success in oncology drug development, including the kinase inhibitor area which TP focuses on, and we are thrilled that she is joining us,” commented Dr. Carl Gordon of OrbiMed and director at TP Therapeutics.

“I am very excited to join TP Therapeutics at this critical time and help drive the strategy of our initial asset TPX-0005 (Ropotrectinib) in ALK/ROS/NTRK driven malignancies. I look forward to working closely with Dr. J. Jean Cui and our team as we unveil the Phase 1 clinical data with Ropotrectinib at an upcoming medical conference and we continue to expand our pipeline,” added Dr. Countouriotis.

Dr. Countouriotis has 15 years of experience within oncology. Before joining TP Therapeutics, Dr. Countouriotis served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Adverum Biotechnologies and previously at Halozyme Therapeutics. Prior to that, she was Chief Medical Officer at Ambit Biosciences leading the development of Quizartinib through the Company’s initial public offering and acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo. Dr. Countouriotis also worked within Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb in various leading clinical development roles for Sutent®, Mylotarg®, Bosulif®, and Sprycel®. Dr. Countouriotis holds an M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine, completed her pediatric residency at the University of California, Los Angeles, and did additional training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology program.

About TPX-0005 (Ropotrectinib)

TPX-0005 (Ropotrectinib) is a potent and orally bioavailable investigational small molecule kinase inhibitor for ALK, ROS1, and TRK family. The clinical benefits of targeting ALK, ROS1, or TRK fusion kinase have been demonstrated with multiple kinase inhibitors already approved for the treatment of ALK + non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in addition to crizotinib for ROS1 + NSCLC, and larotrectinib and entrectinib in clinical studies for TRK + cancers. The successes of these therapies are overshadowed by the development of acquired resistance. The acquired solvent front mutations including ALK G1202R, ROS1 G2032R, TRKA G595R and TRKC G623R render a common clinical resistance to the current ALK, ROS1, and TRK inhibitors. TPX-0005 (Ropotrectinib) is a potent kinase inhibitor against wildtype and mutated ALK, ROS1 and TRK family kinases, especially the clinically significant solvent front mutations, gatekeeper mutations, and emerging compound mutations after multiple line treatments. Ropotrectinib may provide new opportunity to inhibit the abnormal signaling of ALK, ROS1, or TRK family in solid malignancies, and overcome multiple resistance mechanisms seen in refractory patients. TPX-0005 (Ropotrectinib) is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2, open-label, multi-center, first-in-human study of the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring ALK, ROS1, or NTRK1-3 rearrangements (TRIDENT-1, NCT03093116 ). For additional information about TPX-0005 (ropotrectinib) trial, please refer to www.clinicaltrials.gov. Interested patients and physicians can also contact the TP Therapeutics Oncology Clinical Trial Hotline at 1-858-276-0005 or email clinical@tptherapeutics.com.

About TP Therapeutics, Inc.

TP Therapeutics, Inc. (TP) is a clinical-stage structure-based oncology drug design company founded in October 2013 by Dr. J. Jean Cui, the lead inventor of Pfizer’s oncology drug crizotinib and lorlatinib. The TP team is focused on the design and development of novel chemical entities within oncology for established oncogene drivers with high incidence of secondary resistance mutations; newly identified disease-driven targets; and potential targets regulating the tumor microenvironment and tumor immunity. For more information, please visit us at www.tptherapeutics.com.